St Sebastian, Pendleton - Roman Catholic

Photograph supplied by & Copyright of Mike Berrell. St Sebastian,
Gerald Road,
Pendleton
Lancashire

Cemeteries

The church does not have a graveyard.

Church History

It was founded in 1892. Th current church building opened on 15 September 1973.

About the year 1825 there was a factory at Douglas Green, and here some Catholics found employment. Their numbers were few, for in those days the populous district now known as Charlestown consisted principally of fields, many of them cultivated, and producing corn and fruit. The district at this time formed part of the parish of St. Mary's, Mulberry Street. In 1843, on the establishment of St. John's Mission in Salford, Charlestown was included in it, and it was not until 15 years later that Mass was said for the first time in Pendleton in a school which had been built in Church Street. In 1870, St. James's Mission was separated from the Cathedral parish, and Fr. Saffenreuter was appointed its first Rector. He built an Infants' School in Whit Lane and in 1874 the school began to be used as a chapel on Sundays, continuing thus until Charlestown became a separate mission in 1892. Its first Rector was Fr. R. Smith. His successors were Frs. Holohan, Thomson and Pool. During Fr. Pool's rectorship property was purchased in Gerald Road and, in November 1895, a school-chapel was commenced, the Rt. Rev, Dr. Bilsborrow, Bishop of Salford, laying the foundation stone. This school-chapel was solemnly opened in July 1896. The history of the mission under the care of the secular clergy ended in April, 1895, when the Dominican Fathers took charge of it, the first Superior being Fr. Hyacinth Koos, O.P. A larger plot of ground adjoining the site of the presbytery and school-chapel was secured with a view to the erection of a church and priory of the Dominican Order. About this time a generous benefactor, Andre Raffalovich, made an offer to provide the means for the building of a church in honour of St. Sebastian, the Martyr-Soldier of Rome. The foundation stone of the new church was blessed and laid by the Bishop of Salford on September 17th, 1898, and the building of the priory was begun in the following year. On January 19th, 1901, the church was consecrated by the Rt. Rev. Dr. O'Callaghan, O.P., Bishop of Cork, in the absence of the Bishop of the Diocese, who at the time was in Rome. On the following day, Sunday, 20th, the preacher at the Pontifical High Mass was the Rt. Rev. Dr. Allen, Bishop of Shrewsbury, and in the evening, after Compline, the sermon was preached by Abbot Gasquet, O.S.B.

There are four sets of vestments of great value, the most notable one of red velvet almost entirely covered with silver embroidery bears the date 1750. A picture of interest hangs in the Sacristy Chapel. It is an oil painting of the Holy Family with St. John the Baptist and St. Catherine of Alexandria. An expert has given it as his opinion that it is by Deutzio about 1310. It was discovered in an attic in the old Glasgow University buildings when they were pulled down in 1870.

Taken from "Salford Diocese and its Catholic past", a survey by Charles A. Bolton, a Priest of the above Diocese. Published 1950 on the First Centenary for the Diocese of Salford.

Maps

The church is located at OS grid reference SD813002. You can see this on maps provided by:

• this church marked on a Google map. (Use this to report a corrected location)
• Old Maps
• Streetmap.co.uk.
• multimap.com.
• www.magic.gov.uk
• Google maps showing nearby churches with satellite image option.

This site provides historical information about churches, other places of worship and cemeteries. It has no connection with the churches themselves. For current information you should contact them directly.